On this occasion, the Advisor to HM King Mohammed VI, Andre Azoulay said "that a little over 10 years ago, on October 27, 2009 to be precise, HM the King declared before a stunned and fascinated Community of Nations that His reading of the Holocaust was not that of amnesia, but that of a memorial wound inscribed in one of the most painful chapters in the Pantheon of Universal Heritage. On this January 27, 2022, day of commemoration of the Holocaust in the world, these words continue to resonate with force and give full meaning to the inspiring commitment of the late HM Mohammed V, of blessed memory, in his refusal to apply to Morocco the scurrilous laws of the Vichy government, said Friday a statement by the Mimouna Association.

"It is in the continuity and historical depth of this exemplary Morocco that I would like once again to pay tribute to the Mimouna Association, which has never ceased since its creation to explain and bring together young and old so that our country joins its voice to all those in the world who refuse denial and resist the tragic illusions of a deadly negationism. Long solitary in our region, Morocco has been joined this year by many countries of the Arab-Muslim world who have also chosen the path of education and pedagogy so that this universal commemoration finds its place in the land of Islam, "added Azoulay.

For his part, the founder and president of the Mimouna Association, El Mehdi Boudra, stressed that the commemoration of the memory of the victims of the Holocaust is one of the main lines of action of the Association since 2011, recalling that the latter organized the first conference of the Holocaust in the Arab world to commemorate the actions of the late HM Mohammed V, who refused to acquiesce to the persecution of Moroccan Jews during the Vichy occupation.

For his part, Director of the United Nations Information Centre in Rabat, Fethi Debbabi, noted that the commemoration of the memory of the victims of the Holocaust is a powerful moment that challenges consciences, stressing that we cannot remember enough that no society is totally immune to intolerance and irrationality. Faced with the rise of misinformation that fuels divisions and hate speech, it is urgent to redouble vigilance and raise our voices against anti-Semitism and all other forms of sectarianism and racism, he added.

David Govrin, Israel's representative in Morocco, noted that the Holocaust will serve forever and for all humanity as a warning against the danger inherent in hatred, intolerance, racism and prejudice.

"In memory of the millions of innocent victims who were exterminated and in memory of the millions who fought Nazism and sacrificed their lives, we all owe it to ourselves to build a present and a future of tolerance and peace among nations and to deepen understanding and mutual respect among them. We pledge, on this solemn day and forever, to preserve the memory of the victims and ensure that the horrors of the past are never repeated," he said.

Dr. Jamaa Baida, director of the Moroccan Archives, evoked the situation of Moroccan Jews during the Second World War, indicating that the representative of France in Morocco, the Resident General, wanted to apply to them the racial and anti-Semitic laws of the Vichy Government, but the late HM Mohammed V did everything possible to spare them the torments of these scurrilous laws.

Director of ADL Israel, Carole Nuriel, said that the late HM Mohammed V was ahead of his time. His statements and behavior were intended to convey a message of zero tolerance for anti-Semitism and discrimination of any citizen. "This shows us the importance of the role of leadership in creating a climate of tolerance for minorities," she stressed.

For his part, Dr. Haim Saadoun, the director of the Documentation Center on North African Jewry during the Second World War, Ben Zvi Institute, spoke about new aspects of research on Moroccan Jews during the Second World War, citing, for example, "the activities of the French Protectorate in Morocco to educate French settlers in the spirit of Vichy principles, the importance of Morocco in clandestine activity during the war, the Jewish community of Casablanca and its attitude towards Vichy orders, new studies on the activities of Maitre Helene Ben Attar and more".

According to him, this research is part of the activities of the Documentation Center on the Jews of North Africa during the Second World War.

In the same vein, Dr. Claudia Zagury, pedagogical advisor at the Agency for French Education Abroad, indicated that the question of the transmission of the Shoah is posed in the Moroccan context with a double acuity. The first is very general and concerns the disappearance of direct witnesses, those who could directly testify to their experience. The second concerns the distance between the places of the genocide, the chronology of the genocide and Morocco itself.

"How can we talk about this period to the young Moroccan generations? How can the history of the genocide be included in a shared memory? It is only by starting from the situation of Moroccan Jews deported from France that a pedagogy of the Shoah can be thought of", she added.